What happens when a 57 foot maple tree falls on your solar array?

Well, not much, apparently. Early in June 2010 a puff of wind from an odd direction was enough to topple this rather large example of its species straight over onto our roof, and from a location that is 8 feet higher than grade at the back of our home. It happened at night, and after ascertaining the points of impact we examined the Sanyo HIP 190-BA3 PV module that received the impact of one of four main branches that clobbered the roof. Fortunately the module bent but did not break. It remains so now, although I will probably brace it from underneath to encourage it to return to its original shape. Meanwhile, it is still producing!

After we limbed it a bit, you could see where it landed. Much of the tree landed on four PV modules